GAS moves season opener from Chandler to SBC, postponed to April

The 2022 Great American Shortcourse season will have to wait a little longer before beginning in a very familiar location. After initially being scheduled to start on 19/20 March at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, scheduling conflicts have forced the opener to be postponed to 9/10 April at the San Bernardino Fairgrounds.

Located in Chandler, Arizona, Wild Horse Pass would have been the first track that GAS visits outside of California. The track, which holds a multitude of motorsport including drag racing and boating, was previously the site of a Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series date and also held Nitro Rallycross during its inaugural season in 2021.

The news means GAS is dubiously zero-for-two on getting a non-California race. Its maiden campaign in 2021 originally had a date at Wild West Motorsports Park in Nevada before it was closed six months before the GAS weekend. The series also had an exhibition at the King of the Hammers in Johnson Valley, California, in early February cancelled; the event was to be held in collaboration with the Stadium Super Trucks, but the latter was busy with SPEED UTV testing.

Still, GAS is not giving up on potentially heading there. In an Instagram comment, the series explained Wild Horse Pass could not “accommodate the event we had scheduled in March due to some internal changes. Working on hopefully getting back there in the fall.” A request for further comment from Wild Horse Pass has gone unanswered as of this article’s publishing.

Also known as the SBC Fairgrounds for short, the San Bernardino Fairgrounds in Victorville hosted the first GAS round in April 2021. Both 2021 and 2022 seasons have exclusively seen races at the SBC Fairgrounds and Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, alternating between the two for four weekends. Assuming a make-up date in Chandler or elsewhere could not be found, the 2022 schedule will repeat the pattern for five weekends beginning at SBC on 9/10 April, followed by Glen Helen on 14/15. A return to SBC is on 9/10 July, then back at Glen Helen on 1/2 October before ending in SBC on 12/13 November.

Revised 2022 schedule

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